This week’s Hub Dialogue roundtable welcomes Ian Brodie, a former chief of staff to prime minister Stephen Harper, to discuss the allegations that China waged an intimidation campaign against the extended family of Conservative MP Michael Chong.
Canada doesn’t have a legal definition for foreign interference, pushing the authorities to find other crimes committed by malign foreign actors if they want to prosecute them, a national security expert said.
It’s too easy for hostile foreign powers to interfere in Canadian democracy with few consequences, national security experts said in the wake of revelations that China had targeted for intimidation the extended family of a member of Parliament.
Canada’s military credibility among our allies is declining. We must remedy our internal issues and arrest the country’s further slide towards irrelevance. But recent rumblings of increased defence spending are promising.
This episode of Hub Dialogues features Conservative MP Michael Chong reacting to a breaking media report that Canadian intelligence officials had evidence that MP Chong’s family in Hong Kong was targeted by a Chinese official in the Toronto consulate, and yet the Canadian government failed to inform him or expel the diplomat.
A top United States defence expert said there’s no coordination between Western allies on defending the Arctic, an issue that will only get worse as the world becomes more geopolitically unstable.
With its limited military capabilities, countries are increasingly viewing Canada as irrelevant. This diminution will have serious consequences not just for this country, but also others in need internationally—as we can witness today in Haiti.
How it ends is very much up to Ukraine and Russia, whether by a negotiated settlement that sees Russian troops leaving occupied territory or by Ukraine forcing the Russians out.
There is no reason why Canada should be complacent with China’s disrespect. As the second-largest economy within the CPTPP, Canada has the capacity to work together with Japan to shift the bloc’s dynamics and support Taiwan while creating a headache for China.
Many Canadians breathed a sigh of relief when Trump failed to win re-election in 2020, and was replaced by Biden. On matters of international trade, however, Canada and the U.S. have not returned to the status quo of 2016.
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